Theme:In literature, a theme is the main idea of the story, or the message the author is conveying. This message is usually about life, society or human nature.
Epiphany:
On its simplest level, "Araby" is a story about a boy's first love. On a deeper level, however, it is a story about the world in which he lives - a world inimical to ideals and dreams. The allure of new love and distant places mingles with the familiarity of everyday drudgery, with frustrating consequences. Mangan’s sister embodies this mingling, since she is part of the familiar surroundings of the narrator’s street as well as the exotic promise of the bazaar. She is a “brown figure” who both reflects the brown facades of the buildings that line the street and evokes the skin color of romanticized images of Arabia that flood the narrator’s head. The narrator's love for Mangan's sister is simply a desire for change, and much like the Araby bazaar, is just a romanticized element that represents the wishful thinking of the narrator.
The narrator arrives at the bazaar only to encounter flowered teacups and English accents, not the freedom of the enchanting East. As the bazaar closes down, he realizes that Mangan’s sister will fail his expectations as well, and that his desire for her is actually only a vain wish for change. The story concludes with the boy experiencing an epiphany, but not a positive one. Instead of reaffirming his love or realizing that he does not need gifts to express his feelings for Mangan’s sister, the narrator simply gives up. Time does not adhere to the narrator’s visions of his relationship. The story presents this frustration as universal: the narrator is nameless, the girl is always “Mangan’s sister” as though she is any girl next door, and the story closes with the narrator imagining himself as a creature.
The Frustration and Vanity of Love:
In “Araby,” Joyce suggests that all people experience frustrated desire for love and new experiences. The boy indirectly learns an important lesson about love and how it is exploited in the real world for the benefit of consumerism. Vanity plays a big role in the expression of love, not only as a child, but as an adult as well. Human beings believe that through material things they will win the love of someone they desire, when in reality, love never works this way. The tedious events that delay the narrator’s trip indicate that no room exists for love in the daily lives of Dubliners, and the absence of love renders the characters in the story almost anonymous. What could have been a story of happy, youthful love becomes a tragic story of defeat and disappointment.
The Prison of Routine:
In “Araby,” The young boy wants to go to the bazaar to buy a gift for the girl he loves, but he is late because his uncle becomes mired in the routine of his workday. Supposedly forgetting all about what the boy had told him. Acting nonchallant about the matter, the uncle concludes his act by handing the young boy the train fare. Apparently "Araby" suggests that the prison of routine gets us to forget about other things apart from work. The uncle even notes the saying "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". The uncle seems to be subject to his own saying, since it suggests that he works so much he forgets about other important things in life.
Epiphany:
On its simplest level, "Araby" is a story about a boy's first love. On a deeper level, however, it is a story about the world in which he lives - a world inimical to ideals and dreams. The allure of new love and distant places mingles with the familiarity of everyday drudgery, with frustrating consequences. Mangan’s sister embodies this mingling, since she is part of the familiar surroundings of the narrator’s street as well as the exotic promise of the bazaar. She is a “brown figure” who both reflects the brown facades of the buildings that line the street and evokes the skin color of romanticized images of Arabia that flood the narrator’s head. The narrator's love for Mangan's sister is simply a desire for change, and much like the Araby bazaar, is just a romanticized element that represents the wishful thinking of the narrator.
The narrator arrives at the bazaar only to encounter flowered teacups and English accents, not the freedom of the enchanting East. As the bazaar closes down, he realizes that Mangan’s sister will fail his expectations as well, and that his desire for her is actually only a vain wish for change. The story concludes with the boy experiencing an epiphany, but not a positive one. Instead of reaffirming his love or realizing that he does not need gifts to express his feelings for Mangan’s sister, the narrator simply gives up. Time does not adhere to the narrator’s visions of his relationship. The story presents this frustration as universal: the narrator is nameless, the girl is always “Mangan’s sister” as though she is any girl next door, and the story closes with the narrator imagining himself as a creature.
The Frustration and Vanity of Love:
In “Araby,” Joyce suggests that all people experience frustrated desire for love and new experiences. The boy indirectly learns an important lesson about love and how it is exploited in the real world for the benefit of consumerism. Vanity plays a big role in the expression of love, not only as a child, but as an adult as well. Human beings believe that through material things they will win the love of someone they desire, when in reality, love never works this way. The tedious events that delay the narrator’s trip indicate that no room exists for love in the daily lives of Dubliners, and the absence of love renders the characters in the story almost anonymous. What could have been a story of happy, youthful love becomes a tragic story of defeat and disappointment.
The Prison of Routine:
In “Araby,” The young boy wants to go to the bazaar to buy a gift for the girl he loves, but he is late because his uncle becomes mired in the routine of his workday. Supposedly forgetting all about what the boy had told him. Acting nonchallant about the matter, the uncle concludes his act by handing the young boy the train fare. Apparently "Araby" suggests that the prison of routine gets us to forget about other things apart from work. The uncle even notes the saying "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". The uncle seems to be subject to his own saying, since it suggests that he works so much he forgets about other important things in life.
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Plot Characters Setting Mood/Tone Diction Perspective Literary devices
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